


Haven't Found (A Drop)

by AndrogynousTablature



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: (briefly) - Freeform, ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Climbing, Gen, but it's very aesthetic, idk exactly what's going on, mention of hallucinations, roofs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:04:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8565163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndrogynousTablature/pseuds/AndrogynousTablature
Summary: It was on the fourth roof that he met Tyler.  He sat, leaning against a pole in the rigging, wearing far too many layers and doing very little, colouring in the edges of the world. Josh felt suddenly and acutely like a graphite sketch.Then Tyler looked up and Josh felt his edges being coloured in, too. Tyler blinked.





	

 

Josh almost didn't go. For a second he almost stopped himself from almost grabbing an almost hideous print jacket and almost walking out the door. Everything was **Nearly** in that second and everything was very **Near**. Josh felt the woollen scrape of his beanie so closely it seemed to press itself into his skull and everything was so very _loud_.

But then the world unfroze and went silent and his almosts became mosts again, and the most of all of them was the need to gogo _GO_.

Josh became vaguely aware of his feet moving when he was most of the way down the street. He seemed to have have left the hideous jacket lying in the open doorway. He only looked back when he was far enough away for the light spilling out of the door to fall into a fine line, no longer a solid block of greasy yellow making the grass glow but just a distant edge in the darkness. Walking backwards, he watched as the line bent in on itself, becoming an arrow. He turned on his heel and didn't look to see where the arrow was pointing.

He walked quickly, eyes trained on his feet lest the arrow become a hand to grab his ankles and pull him back.

One, three, five, nine, ten, twelve, the end of time, Josh look down, and watched his feet.

He watched them as they carried him off the hot-wet-cold asphalt and onto meanly clipped grass and onto a dumpster that was too soft and warm and onto a wall that was too dry and made his thumbs tingle and onto a roof where he could _finally_ smell the sea and--

Josh's feet stopped when they hung halfway over the flat edge of an unknown roof - when he could finally look down and see something less solid than himself. And once he knew he could look down, he looked up. The stars made small noises of comfort and the breeze spread salt on his eyelashes.

Josh stood very still, then let out an endless stream of breath and took a slow step backwards. He reached into his right front pocket and pulled out a selection of jangling coins. Somehow the Loud of it didn't bother him. Nor did the Quiet. He picked them over and pulled out a well-rusted penny that made him think of one-way mirrors and water running over dry clay. Returning the rest of the coins to his pocket he stepped to the edge again and waited.

Cues are never an obvious thing - and if they are then they're bad cues - so Josh waited patiently for his. He closed his eyes and he listened, and he opened his eyes and he saw, and when the universe decided he was no longer solid enough to change the path of the breeze blowing around him he let the coin drop.

The line it fell in didn't look straight to Josh, but that was okay, because the sound it made when it hit the broken glass scattered below was clean and sharp and pretty. He liked to imagine he could _feel_ the sound waves washing over him. He couldn't, but it was nice to think so.

Soon the moon was urging him on, and so his feet found a different roof, and his fingers found a different coin, and his mind found a little more peace in the sound it made when it hit the ground.

 

It was on the fourth roof that he met Tyler. Well. It wasn't a roof, really. More of a temporary building platform at the top of a bridge. Josh wasn't sure what they were building, but he liked the way the planks of wood touched the fraying metal of the bridge. It looked intimate. Tyler looked intimate, too, though Josh wasn't sure how or why.

He sat, leaning against a pole in the rigging, wearing far too many layers and doing very little, colouring in the edges of the world. Josh felt suddenly and acutely like a graphite sketch.

Then Tyler looked up and Josh felt his edges being coloured in, too. Tyler blinked.

"Hey."

Josh's throat was terrified of his vocal chords. "Hey," he croaked.

Tyler spent a long minute frowning a secret smile at him, and Josh could have sworn he felt the roots of his hair curl inwards and take on a different colour. Then:

"I'm Tyler."

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Hi."

Josh fiddled with the coins in his pocket, thinking of lighter fluid and wood splinters (Tyler thought of key changes and bleach). They watched each other, silently, for an indeterminate amount of time.

Eventually Tyler blinked again and cracked a smile. That smile cracked Josh. Tyler patted the spot beside him and Josh moved numbly forward, pockets somehow louder than they had been earlier. Josh wasn't entirely sure what his face was doing. It felt like it was trying to do several things at once.

Tyler pulled out two individually wrapped sticks of gum from one of the pockets in his outermost coat (Josh counted three coats and a sweater), and held one out to Josh. Josh reached out and pulled the wrapper down, broke it in half and drew back his hand, leaving Tyler chewing the inside of his cheek, holding half a stick of gum. Josh smelled synthetic watermelon and felt pink where the gum touched his lips. They looked at the stars and chewed until then suddenly Josh was looking at Tyler and watching the breeze spread salt onto his freckles. Tyler blew a large bubble and hid behind it, shifting his eyes to meet Josh's. The bubble popped and spread obscenely over Tyler's faint sideways grin. Then:

"I'm Josh." 

"Hey, Josh."

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Hi."

And then their feet found another roof and their fingers found other coins and Josh's mind found a little more peace because Tyler was warm and broken and sharp and pretty, and everything he touched bloomed with colour in the darkness.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have a [tumblr](https://notconsolation.tumblr.com/) now


End file.
